Can HP data center switch be burden?

Almost every module in the data center now needs switches. As one of the leading manufacturers of data center blade switches, Hewlett-Packard seems determined to do its part in high-density mega-gigabit rack switches and data center core switches.

As its main competitor, Cisco, Brocade and Juniper have introduced richer Gigabit Ethernet switches to meet rack and core switch requirements. As early as 2009, Hewlett-Packard quietly bought 3Com companies with 2.7 billion of dollars. At the time, http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/9929.html "> HP's main reason for acquiring 3Com was to focus on the data center switch product line, according to HP's official statement A12500 Data Center core switches and A5820 rack switches. HP also offers A7500 and A9500 series for small data center aggregation and core switches.

Since the acquisition of 3Com, HP has largely tight-lipped the A12500 core switch and the A5820 rack switch. Last year, Hewlett-Packard launched a four-port Fibre Channel Ethernet module for A5820, claiming that A12500 is a leading platform in the China data center market. Even so, HP is lagging behind rivals in its efforts to expand the data center's high-density, new Wan Chaoping module.

HP, by contrast, has a leading position in the blade switch product area with its flagship product 6120. This suggests that even after 17 months of acquiring 3Com, HP server products are promoting and selling data center networks and computing equipment. Industry analysts believe that HP faces at least one gap that needs to be crossed, namely, a breakdown of the Chinese market.

Out of rack switch market top five

Hewlett-Packard has assumed an important role in the market and will have more clout in the marketplace in the first quarter of 2012 when it unveiled a series of new rack switches to compensate for the lack of a rack switch.

The authoritative analysis agency for Network and Communications market The Dell ' Oro Group survey shows that rack switches are currently the hottest product in the data center network. The mega Ethernet market is worth 1.4 billion dollars in the two quarter of this year, while the rack switches occupy 55% of the market. This trend will continue.

"We still believe that almost all of the revenue from the mega market will come from this product area and expect 2011 revenue to reach $1.3 billion, which will occupy 7% of the [Ethernet switch] market revenue," Dell Oro said in its Q2 report. This means that the rack switch will occupy 23% to 24% of the million market share this year.

The five major vendors in the rack-and-switch field are Cisco, IBM (via its Blade Network technology acquisition), Juniper, Dell and Brocade. HP dropped its top five rankings for two consecutive quarters. But HP hopes to reverse the situation as soon as possible. The company officials did not disclose what new rack switches will be introduced, as well as the port density, throughput, switching capabilities, functionality, etc. of the products-but they will support HP's IRF technology and the Trill Multipath forwarding specification in the Ethernet network environment.

Others say the new switches will not be launched soon, and in the first quarter of this year, Oppenheimer &co, analyst Ittai Kidron, has talked about HP's weakness in the overall market for data center switches: "The power of Gigabit Ethernet is attributed to virtualized connections ( Blade switches, rather than being driven by A12500 or other rack switches in the data center, "Kidron writes," In our view, HP remains in the process of dealing with 3com/procurve integration issues and will be at risk of backwardness if it does not improve its market performance in the data center. ”

Hewlett-Packard commented that all of its data center switch products are growing from a revenue perspective, and that trading volumes will continue to rise early next year as new rack-switch product lines are launched. "In terms of port performance and density, there are other products that we will be offering in addition to A5800," Mayer said, "which will meet the functional needs of people on rack switches." ”

"The added richness and density will be very very powerful," said Hewlett-Packard Network CTO Saar Gillai.